The nation's largest indoor organic farm is now churning out greens and herbs to supply the Chicago area with fresh, local produce. <a href="http://farmedhere.com/" target="_blank">FarmedHere</a> recently opened up a <a href="http://farmedhere.com/2012/farmedhere-the-first-commercial-scale-indoor-vertical-farm-in-chicagoland-receives-usda-organic-certification" target="_blank">new aquaponic and aeroponic farm</a> in a 90,000 square foot post-industrial building in Bedford Park, IL. They grow arugala, basil, mint and other micro greens, which are then sold in Whole Foods stores in the city. We've been writing about indoor <a href="http://inhabitat.com/tag/vertical-farms" target="_blank">vertical farms</a> for years and now they really do exist!

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Farmed Here Indoor Farm

<a href="http://farmedhere.com/" target="_blank">FarmedHere</a> has been growing greens in the Chicago area since 2011 and has 10,000-square-foot facility in Flanagan and a 4,000-square-foot one in Englewood, IL.

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Farmed Here Indoor Farm

Jolanta Hardej, the CEO and co-founder of the company, used to be an interior designer and a mortgage broker, but had the vision for the farm after the market collapse in 2008.

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Farmed Here Indoor Farm

The new 90,000 sq ft facility in Bedford Park, to the southwest of Chicago is just a nondescript warehouse from the outside, but on the inside, it's a lean, mean growing machine.

There are six shelves of plants growing at one time that are tended to by workers using lifts. Water is also highly conserved and according to Hardej, they use only 3% of the amount that traditional agriculture uses, plus it's all recycled.

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Farmed Here Indoor Farm

Urban farming also has a number of other benefits, like employing local workers and reducing transportation and shipping. The company also hires local youths in an urban agricultural training program through <a href="http://www.chicagobotanic.org/windycityharvest/" target="_blank">Windy City Harvest</a>.

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Farmed Here Indoor Farm

FarmedHere was awarded its <a href="http://farmedhere.com/2012/farmedhere-the-first-commercial-scale-indoor-vertical-farm-in-chicagoland-receives-usda-organic-certification" target="_blank">USDA Organic Certification</a> at the end of 2012 and the new facility was in part funded by Whole Foods, the farm's largest customer.

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Farmed Here Indoor Farm

The nation's largest indoor organic farm is now churning out greens and herbs to supply the Chicago area with fresh, local produce. FarmedHere recently opened up a new aquaponic and aeroponic farm in a 90,000 square foot post-industrial building in Bedford Park, IL. They grow arugala, basil, mint and other micro greens, which are then sold in Whole Foods stores in the city. We've been writing about indoor vertical farms for years and now they really do exist!